Blogs
Greater NW Pride: Idaho vs. Transgender Rights
3/11/2020
Idaho vs. Transgender Rights One of the ways those of us who are LGBTQI+ try to understand what is going on in our lives, especially those of us who lived or are living in closets, is by watching, listening, sensing, feeling the life of those who are portraying LGBTQI+ people in the arts: film, movies, music events, plays, dance, musicals, and visual arts, to name a few, popular mediums. Among these artistic expressions, film has always been, for me, a social gauge as to where we are as...
Greater NW Pride: Gathering
3/5/2020
Gathering Last week, in Nashville, Tennessee, there was a national gathering of the Reconciling Ministry Network (RMN), “Connection 2020,” a gathering of United Methodist Church (UMC) LGBTQ+ people and non-LGBTQ+ allies. Over 200 people gathered at Belmont UMC Church from Feb. 27-29, 2020, with a thirst and hunger to hear and receive good news as the UMC goes forward into the General Conference of May 2020. Each day included sessions for delegates of the General Conference to meet and ...
Greater NW Pride: Showing Up
2/25/2020
Showing Up There is an adage in the world that I keep coming back to: “90% of life is showing up. Sometimes it is easier to hide home in bed. I’ve done both.” I thought of this quote as I read about Zachary Ro, a 9-year-old boy, who asked Democratic Presidential Candidate Pete Buttigieg, aka, Mayor Pete, to help him tell the world he’s gay, too: “I want to be brave like you.” Zachary was attending a rally for Mayor Pete in Denver, Colorado on Saturday night. Mayor Pete responded, “’I ...
Great NW Pride: Vashon Island, LGBTQ+ People, and the Church
2/18/2020
Vashon Island, LGBTQ+ People, and the Church Last Saturday, my partner Christian Halstead and I had a chance to visit the Vashon Island Heritage Museum on Vashon Island. The Museum was housed in a former Lutheran church, one of the oldest church buildings on Vashon. The front half of the Museum was dedicated to the native people who lived on the Island before white settlers—farmers, actually—came and moved onto the Island. Today, it is a lovely Island with wineries, a cute downtown with ...